Webb Wants Win, With Record On The Side
Posted Wednesday, 1 June, 2005
By Kerry Eggers Issue date: Tue, May 31, 2005
The Portland Tribune
On Saturday, five days after the 30th anniversary of the death of Steve Prefontaine, Alan Webb will take to the starting line at the 31st Prefontaine Classic in Eugene’s Hayward Field with an American record in mind.
“Do you suppose (the anniversary) is why we’re running the two-mile?” asks the next great U.S. miler.
Could be. Prefontaine once held the American record at two miles, so a very fast race in his memory would be fitting.
Webb can almost promise that.
“I haven’t run a two-mile since I was a sophomore in high school, so I’m not sure what to expect,” says Webb, 22, a Reston, Va., resident. “But with the field of runners we have, at a place like Hayward Field, it can’t help but be fast.”
The U.S. record, according to Pre meet promoter Tom Jordan, is 8:11.59 by Bob Kennedy. Kennedy also has run the fastest two-mile on American soil — 8:14.53 at the ’95 Pre meet, the last time the event was contested there.
Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj, the Olympic champion at 1,500 and 5,000 meters, originally was scheduled to run the two-mile but dropped out last week, citing health reasons. Still entered are 2004 U.S. Olympian Dathan Ritzenheim, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, the 2003 world champion at 5,000 and ranked No. 1 in the world last year at 3,000, and Ethiopia’s Mulugeta Wendimu, ranked No. 9 in the world at 5,000.
Webb, though disappointed with El Guerrouj’s withdrawal, figures he’ll be up to whatever challenge is provided by the others. In his only meet so far this spring, Webb set a personal record of 13:30.25 in winning the 5,000 at the Penn Relays, then came back two days later for a 1:47.3 800 split on a sprint medley relay unit.
“I feel good,” Webb says. “A record would be fun. That (8:11.59) is a good time, but it’s achievable. Put it this way: If I’m up at the front of a race with all those African guys, I’ll have to run that time to win. My plan will not be to think about time. I just want to be competitive in the race. If I’m right at the front, I’m not going to have to worry about running fast.”
Appreciates Pre’s legacy
Webb’s birth came eight years after Prefontaine’s final race, but the late distance runner from Oregon stands as a role model to Webb in at least one important way.
“It’s more of a mentality type of thing for me,” Webb says. “With all the talking that goes on in sports these days, so much blah blah blahing … what is great about Pre, he kept it simple. You push all that crap aside and just race. If you go out and run hard, you can surprise yourself. That’s what you have to do. That’s what I take out of Pre’s legacy.”
The 5-9, 140-pound Webb has warm memories of the Pre Classic. Two of his greatest races have come there. In 2001, as a senior at South Lakes (Va.) High, Webb ran a 3:53.43 mile, taking down the 36-year-old U.S. high school record of the great Jim Ryun. Last June, Webb won the Bowerman mile in a meet and personal record 3:50.85 — the fastest time ever recorded on American soil.
“Those races are both pretty equal,” Webb says. “The prep record was a pretty special moment, but last year, I won the race. That was a great moment, too.”
The date of the Pre Classic gets circled on Webb’s racing calendar on an annual basis.
“It’s such a cool meet,” he says. “It’s basically Europe in the U.S. It’s a big meet, always competitive, and to run in front of the Eugene fans — the best in the country — you put all that together, it’s easy to see why I keep coming back.”
Olympic medal ‘the ultimate’
After winning the U.S. Olympic trials 1,500 last year, Webb failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying in Athens.
“Pretty disappointing,” he says, “but it wasn’t like a dagger to my heart. I’ll never forget the experience of my first Olympics. It will always have a special place in my heart. Going in, my expectations were a little clouded. I didn’t know what to expect. I’m a very competitive person, so it wasn’t easy to swallow, but I didn’t go cry or anything.
“One of the things I’ve learned over my career is how to deal with not running well. I’ve done a pretty good job bouncing back. I’m hoping this summer will prove that.”
An improved finish in the 1,500 at the World Championships this summer is a goal. But a medal in the 2008 Olympics, Webb says, “would be the ultimate. I always think of it this way: If you set a world record, that record will be broken some day. You are always an Olympic medalist.”
Some believe Webb eventually will be known as the greatest miler in American history.
“That’s not a goal of mine,” he says. “My goal is to be the greatest miler in Alan Webb history. Hey, I’m just trying to get better every year. People ask me all the time, ‘How can we get U.S. distance running back to its glory years?’ I don’t know. It’s not like I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to save U.S. track and field.’ I’ll try my best, and that’s all I can do. When it comes to being the greatest American miler of all-time, it’s not what I live for.”
Still, track has been good to Webb, who in 2002 signed a six-year contract with Nike Inc. that takes him through the 2008 Olympics and pays him an annual salary of $250,000 plus incentives, college costs and a $25,000 salary for coach Scott Raczko.
“It’s changed my life,” he says. “I get to continue to do something I love to do. Not everybody gets that opportunity. I’m running with it — no pun intended.”
Notes
The best field in the Pre’s 31-year history is set for Saturday’s meet, which runs from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. “Nothing even comes close to touching the quality of this year’s field from our past years,” promoter Jordan says. Seven 2004 Olympic champions are entered in the 16 events, including Russia’s Yuriy Borzakovskiy (800), China’s Liu Xiang (110 hurdles), Dominican Republic’s Felix Sanchez (400 hurdles), the Bahamas’ Tonique Williams-Darling (women’s 400) and American Tim Mack (pole vault). There are 28 reigning Olympic and World Championships medalists entered. … Jordan expects a ninth sellout in 10 years. Last year’s crowd was more than 12,000. … Total prize money is $190,000. Jordan’s travel budget was a record $120,000, “and Nike is probably spending equivalent to that to bring athletes in,” Jordan says. … Ex-Washington State Cougar Bernard Lagat, a native Kenyan who got his U.S. citizenship last year, leads a mile field that will try to bring down Steve Scott’s American record (3:47.33, 1982).
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